Mr. Grant Courville reports

BLACKBERRY QNX INTRODUCES SOFTWARE-DEFINED FUNCTIONAL SAFETY PLATFORM IN COLLABORATION WITH INTEL FOR INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION

BlackBerry Ltd. has expanded its long-standing collaboration with Intel Corp. that will enable manufacturers to design, build and safety certify their industrial systems and robotic applications for progression toward Industry 5.0.

Industrial automation in safety-critical environments, such as manufacturing and warehouses, is transitioning toward more collaborative applications, where machines work alongside humans in shared workspaces. As these systems evolve, functional safety (FuSa) plays a critical component in keeping machinery and personnel safe. Compliance with IEC 61508 ensures that industrial systems and robotic applications meet the standard's safety life cycle requirements.

"The collaboration between Intel and BlackBerry QNX brings to market a hardware/software platform certified to IEC 61508 SIL 3 to simplify manufacturers' development of and delivery of safe and secure systems," said Grant Courville, senior vice-president, product and strategy at BlackBerry QNX. "The QNX OS [operating system] is known for its security, reliability and real-time performance, and our expanded collaboration with Intel creates a safety-certified platform for industrial systems and robotic applications where safety is non-negotiable."

As technologies become more entwined with society, the need for functional safety increases as humans and machines collaborate in unprecedented ways. This platform helps accelerate the development of safety applications and streamline design architecture, delivering cost and time savings associated with achieving safety accreditation and hardware redundancies.

"Intel has a long history alongside QNX helping customers to build reliable and safe solutions and we're now extending this successful collaboration into the industrial automation sector," said Ricky Watts, senior director, manufacturing solutions, at Intel. "Collaboration to ensure safety compliance is baked into core hardware and software components of the foundation layer will make it much easier for manufacturers to achieve certification for industrial innovations, faster and at lower cost."

The QNX OS is safety certified to IEC 61508 SIL 3, which enables manufacturers to build their FuSa industrial systems and robotic applications.

To learn how this platform streamlines the design and development of safety-critical systems by offering a unified hardware/software foundation, please register on-line to attend a webinar hosted by BlackBerry QNX and Intel on Nov. 12, 2024, at 11 a.m. ET.

About BlackBerry Ltd.

BlackBerry provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company's software powers over 255 million vehicles on the road today. Based in Waterloo, Ont., the company leverages AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy and is a leader in the areas of end point security management, encryption and embedded systems. BlackBerry's vision is clear -- to secure a connected future you can trust.